Category: Meal Swap Recipes
Meal Swap: Friday’s Menu and Recipes for July 2013
July 2013 Menu for Friday’s Group
Seafood/Fish:
Thai Sweet & Spicy Shrimp Pizza
For the Shrimp:
1 lb large shrimp
5 tbsp. mayonnaise
3 tbsp. Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
1 tsp. Sriracha
For the Pizza:
2 Archer Farms Fire Roasted thin square pizza crust
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp. scallions, chopped
2 tbsp. cilantro leaves
Prep Day Directions: thaw shrimp and remove tails from shrimp.
combine 5 tbsp. mayonnaise, 3 tbsp.
Chili Sauce, & 1 tsp sriracha in a bowl.
Once mixed, toss shrimp until well coated.
Place in fridge until ready to eat.
Chop scallions
Remove cilantro from stems
Serve Day Directions: Place 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese on each pizza crust.
Divide the shrimp between the two pizza crusts.
Preheat the grill, leaving half of the burners off for indirect heat.
Lightly spray the grates so the crust doesn’t stick.
Place one pizza on the grill and close the grill.
Grill directly on the grates for about 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is melted.
Remove from the grill, and top with scallions and cilantro.
Repeat with second pizza.
**I used cooked shrimp, so you don’t need to cook it before hand, you can always do so before putting the shrimp on the pizza if you like it cooked more.
**You can also just bake it in the oven at 400 degrees if you don’t have a grill
Salmon Cakes with Rice Pilaf
Prep Day Directions: In a small freezer bag combine red pepper, chives, dill, lemons juice and tabasco. Label a sleeve of Ritz crackers and 3 cans of salmon for the pantry.
TO PREPARE: On hand – 2 eggs and oil. In a medium bowl break up the canned salmon with a fork. Add about 1 cup cracker meal and work through the fish. Add the eggs, pepper, chives, dill, tabasco, and lemon juice. If the mixture is too wet add more cracker meal. Form 3-inch patties about 1 inch thick. You should have 8-10 cakes.
Serve Day Directions: Fry in hot oil in a single layer until golden, 3-4 minutes on each side. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
Rice pilaf
1/4 cup olive oil
2 T butter
6 cups white rice, uncooked
2 cups chopped carrots (about 4 medium)
1 cup chopped celery (about 4 stalks)
1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)
8 tsp chicken bouillon granules
4 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp black pepper
Prep Day Directions: Heat olive oil and butter in large skilled over medium heat. Add rice, carrots, celery, and onion; cook, stirrying, until rice is golden brown, 5- 7 minutes. Cool. Divide rice mixture among 4 1-gallon freezer bags. Into each bag, measure 2 tsp bouillon, t tsp parsley, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Seal and freeze.
Serve Day Directions: To cook, place frozen pilaf in a medium saucepan and add 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and cook, covered, for 30ish minutes, or until water is completely absorbed.
Pork:
Ham Pot Pie
Recipe to come!
Poultry:
Chicken Orange Curry
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1″ pieces
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1″ pieces
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1″ pieces
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. curry powder
3/4 cup whipping cream
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
Hot cooked rice
Peanuts and raisins (optional)
More curry powder
*You could also add a sweet potato peeled and cubed
Prep Day Directions: Combine onion, peppers, chicken, garlic, orange juice, water, salt, and curry powder and mix well. Place in freezer bag and freeze.
Serve Day Directions: Thaw in fridge overnight. Put in a 3-4 qt crock pot, cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Cooking time may need to increase if you put it in frozen. Check it at 6 hours and shred the chicken. If it is done, then proceed to the final step.
In small bowl, combine whipping cream and cornstarch and blend with wire whisk. Stir into crockpot, turn heat to high, and cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring once, until sauce thickens.
Serve over hot cooked rice with peanuts and raisins, more curry powder, and condiments.
Meatless:
4 Cheese Spinach Stuffed Shells
1 Box of jumbo shells
16 oz ricotta cheese
15 oz. cottage cheese
1 package of frozen spinach
4 cups of mozzarella cheese
2 cups of red pasta sauce
1 clove of garlic
1/2 tsp of basil
Optional- sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, you provide.
Prep Day Directions: Cook shells al dente. Thaw and drain spinach. Mix together spinach, cheeses, garlic and basil. Stuff shells. Place on baking pan and flash freeze for two hours. Package and label shells and sauce.
Serve Day Directions: Place stuffed shells in 8×8 baking dish and thaw over night in fridge. Cover with pasta sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Veggie and White Bean Gnocchi
gredients: 1 16-ounce package shelf-stable gnocchi
1 medium yellow onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups spinach, chard, and kale leaves
1 15-ounce can Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 15-ounce can white beans, rinsed
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
Prep Day Directions: Measure and mix cheeses. Put in bag and seal.
Mix all remaining ingredients, except beans and gnocchi. Put in bag and seal.
Serve Day Directions: Thaw in refrigerator overnight. Cook gnocchi according to package directions. Cook veggie mixture in a skillet on the stove until warmed through. Rinse and add white beans. Add cooked gnocchi to skillet and mix in cheese until melted. Enjoy!
Meal Prep Mondays: Do I Stick to My Meal Plans?
A bunch of people have asked me whether I stick to a meal plan after I plan for one. The short answer is “yes,” but we occasionally veer off course if we’re not in the mood to cook or eat something we planned or if different dinner plans pop up.
Meal planning is great because it helps us save money and prevents food from going to waste, but we’re not super strict with it either. Our weekly meal is a good framework for the week, but it’s not the end all be all either. With that said, here are some things that help us stick to our meal plan.
Prioritize Meals
When I plan my weekly menu on the weekends, I take note of the ingredients I already have on hand (leftover food from the previous week) and start with those recipes. Often times, these foods are perishable, so I want to make sure I use them up first, so they don’t spoil and go to waste. I guess you could say these meals are “non-negotiable,” which makes us stick to our meal plan.
Cook the “Hardest” Meals First
When I’m preparing for my meal plan, I almost always schedule the recipes that require the most time and effort at the beginning of the week (i.e. roast chicken). I know as the week progresses, I’m less motivated to cook a meal that requires a lot of work, so I front-load the week and finish with the easy stuff (i.e. tacos) or leftovers.
Typically, these meals produce leftovers, so I incorporate them into the following night’s meal. For example, the roast chicken leftover then I’ll use it for Chicken Bacon Alfredo later in the week.
Cook (Easy) Meals with Leftovers Later in the Week
I also like to cook meals that cover more than one meal, such as crock pot meals or meat fillings. By Thursday night, I don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so we often eat leftovers (or super easy meals) on these nights.
Take Full Advantage of a “Saturday Cook-Up”
On Saturday afternoons, I typically spend about an hour preparing food for the upcoming week. I typically make more involved (aka “the hardest”) meals on Sunday nights, so while I am preparing, I cook other foods for the week, including Sweet Potato Wedges, baked squash, roasted veggies, hard-boiled eggs, rice, and chicken, and then store them in Tupperware containers to be reheated. A Saturday Cook-Up might seem like a lot of work, but it’s so worth it when you are starving and just not in the mood to cook. Plus, once you start prepping everything, it actually comes together quite easily.
Prep and Cook for Future Meals
Similarly to the “Saturday Cook-up,” I prep and cook food throughout the week for meal swap. When I’m cooking dinner, I’m always thinking about how I can multitask to make the next night’s dinner easier. For example, I’ll cut up extra veggies and roast them for the next night while I already have the oven on cooking something else. Pretty much any time I turn on my oven, I think about what else I can throw in there to cook for a later. I love rice, roasted veggies, and various potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squashes, which typically take some time to cook, so I often make them ahead of time, so all I have to do is reheat them later. Having these healthy options on-hand also encourages me to eat better (i.e. I will snack on some Sweet Potato Wedges instead of chips or cookies).
Defrost Meat in the Refrigerator
On Sundays before the start of the week, I take the various meats and fish planned for the week’s meals out of the freezer and put them on one of the shelves in my refrigerator to let them defrost. That way, the meat/fish is ready to go when I want to cook it, and I don’t have to wait for it to defrost.
“Re-Purpose” Meals
Sometimes, I plan out a whole week of meals, but then If I don’t feel like cooking or eating what we have planned. No big deal. We switch it up! If there’s a piece of meat or fish that needs to be cooked before it spoils, we’ll cook it and toss it in the freezer for later or “ re-purpose” it into a new meal that we want to cook and eat (usually, it’s something simple). For example, if we have a chicken dish on the menu, but we’re not in the mood for it, we’ll cook the chicken and then turn it into chicken salad sandwiches or another dish that we feel like eating on that night. We don’t stick to the meal plan exactly, but we also don’t let food go to waste either.
Plan Some “Back-Up” Meals
Along the same lines as “ re-purposing” meals, I also make sure we always have a couple of “back-up” meals on deck if we’re not in the mood for cooking or eating something specific on our meal plan. These meals are ones that we really like, and they’re quick and usually mostly non-perishable, so they’re always ready to go when we’re in need of a meal. Some of our favorites: bacon wrapped burgers, stir fry (from the freezer), hot ham and cheese sandwiches, pizza, and quesadillas. Basically, we keep go-to meals on-hand so we always have a decent dinner option, so we don’t end up ordering take-out.
Bump Meals to the Next Week
On the weeks that we get off schedule with our meal plan, I make sure to “bump” the meals we didn’t eat to the following week’s menu. I make sure to prioritize and cook them first, so the foods we purchased don’t go to waste. This actually makes meal planning a little bit easier because I don’t have to think about what to cook or buy for the beginning of the week.
What are your tips for sticking to your meal plan and making dinnertime easy?
Northerly Nosh 